Ecclesiastes Chapter 12
Showing all 14 verses for Ecclesiastes Chapter 12.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; "
"Remember your Creator while you're still young - before the hard days come, before you reach years when you'll say, 'I get no pleasure from life any more.'"
Don't wait for a crisis to seek what actually matters - build your life on something solid now, while you have the energy and time to do it well. What you plant early is what will hold you up later.
"While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: "
"Do this before the sun, light, moon and stars grow dim for you, before the clouds keep returning even after the rain has passed."
Don't take your strength, clarity and energy for granted - use them now in service of love and purpose, before they naturally dim with time. Work while it is day.
"In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, "
"A day is coming when the arms that guard the house will tremble, the strong legs will stoop, the few remaining teeth will stop grinding food, and the eyes looking out the windows will grow dim."
Treat the ageing body - your own, or someone else's - with tenderness and honour rather than shame. Frailty isn't failure; it's the honest cost of having lived a full life, and it deserves care.
"And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; "
"The doors close off from the street outside as the sound of chewing grows faint; a person wakes at the first bird's chirp, and the sounds of singing grow faint too."
Reach out to those who are ageing and growing more isolated - visit them, include them, don't let their closing doors mean closing them out of your love and attention.
"Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: "
"Also, in old age, people become afraid of heights and dangers on the road; hair turns white like almond blossom, even something as light as a grasshopper feels like a burden, and desire itself fades. Because we're all heading to our lasting home, and mourners are already gathering in the streets."
Don't fear death as an enemy to outrun - it's the road home. Live so that when the mourners eventually gather, they grieve someone who loved well and stayed awake to life, not someone who spent their years running from this truth.
"Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. "
"Remember him - before the silver cord snaps, the golden bowl shatters, the jar breaks at the spring, or the wheel breaks at the well."
Treasure the ordinary vessels of your life - your body, your relationships, your days - while they still hold together. Nothing here lasts forever, so love the people around you while you can, not someday when it's more convenient.
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. "
"Then the body goes back to the earth it came from, and the breath of life returns to God, who gave it in the first place."
Don't fear returning to the one who made you - death is not the end of the story but a homecoming for the part of you that was always more than just dust and biology.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. "
"'Meaningless! Utterly fleeting!' says the Preacher. 'Everything is impossible to hold on to.'"
Let this honesty free you rather than crush you - once you stop demanding that fleeting things give you lasting meaning, you become free to receive each day, each person, each ordinary moment as the gift it actually is.
"And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. "
"On top of all this, because the Preacher was wise, he kept teaching people what he knew - he studied carefully, researched thoroughly, and arranged many proverbs in order."
Share honestly what you've learned, even the hard truths, so others don't have to learn everything the difficult way themselves. Teaching what you know, out of love rather than pride, is genuinely worthwhile work.
"The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. "
"The Preacher worked to find just the right words - pleasing to hear, but also honest - and what he wrote was straight and true."
Speak truth with real care for how it lands on the person hearing it - truth delivered well is a gift, not a weapon. Don't sacrifice honesty for comfort, but don't sacrifice kindness for bluntness either.
"The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. "
"Wise words are like a herder's prod that gets the animal moving, or like nails driven in firmly by a skilled hand - all given by one shepherd."
Let wisdom that stings a little actually move you to change, and let truth that's driven firmly into you hold steady when life gets hard. I called myself the good shepherd - I want to guide you, not just prod you and walk away.
"And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. "
"One more warning, my child: there's no end to the number of books being written, and too much studying just wears a person out."
Don't hide from life in endless study or self-improvement projects - take the wisdom you've already gained and go and actually live it out. Knowledge is meant to lead you somewhere, not become another treadmill you can never step off.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. "
"Here's the conclusion of everything we've covered: take God seriously and follow what he asks - this is what life is actually about for every person."
This is exactly what I later summed up as loving God with everything you have, and loving your neighbour as yourself - not a burden laid on you, but the very thing that finally gives shape and freedom to a life otherwise spent chasing things that slip through your fingers.
"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. "
"Because God will bring every action into judgement - including everything done in secret, whether good or bad."
Nothing you do in secret is wasted or unseen - not the quiet kindness no one else noticed, not the private struggle to do right when it would have been so much easier not to. Live with nothing to hide, because I already see it all, and I see it with love, always calling you towards good rather than waiting to catch you out.